My name is Jamie Atwood, and I am an idiot. Against all odds, I got the attention of Michael Kage, the hottest MMA fighter on the planet. To say he rocked my world would be an understatement. He transformed me completely, made me depend on him, and made me love him. And the sex? Let me put it this way: I'd never been with a guy before I met Kage, but I'd gladly spend the rest of my life on my knees for him. He is my obsession and my addiction. But I did something stupid, and now I'm paying for it. I don't know if I'll ever see Kage again.

Being Michael Kage was never easy. Too many demons, too much anger, and not enough to live for. And then I met Jamie Atwood. He's got this innocence about him that speaks to something deep down inside me- in a place that's never been touched by anyone. He's beautiful, smart, and courageous, and he hasn't been tainted by the darkness that's ruled my life. I wanted him from the first second I laid eyes on him. It's selfish, I know. Because you can't bring an innocent thing into the darkness and not expect something to rub off.

Tracy's Review:

5 Stars

*copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by author/publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Kage Unleashed picks up where Kage left off. Jamie and Kage get into an altercation after an explosive argument. Kage takes off and heads back to Vegas, leaving Jamie at home in Georgia, to deal with his mother's surgery. I'm not going to say a whole lot about the book, because I don't want to give anything away.

This book was terrific. We go a little deeper into Kage's childhood, but he still remains somewhat of a mystery. He was a very dark character in the first book. I find he is still dark at times, but he is somewhat lighter and the sweetness and love show through much more. Jamie is coming into his own and growing as a person as well. He is more accepting of being in love with a guy.

This book takes you on an emotional rollercoaster. I don't cry often when I read books, but at one point, Maris had me in tears and sobbing. I love an author that can really make me feel the emotions I'm reading. I love an author that can make me want to put the book down, because I might have an anxiety attack. Maris makes me feel. I felt the love and happiness between Kage and Jamie. I felt their heartbreak and anguish as well.

This book was well written and flowed well. It moved at a good pace and kept me riveted and turning the pages! I can't wait to dig into Kage Unmasked!

As night descends on the town of Devil's Jawbone, no one is safe. The veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest, and the darkest side of human nature is boiling to the surface. The supernatural and the natural are colliding, and in this sleepy town, the bump in the night is taking human form. Innocence will be lost; the villain will become the victor; spirits will rise and Satan himself will come to town.

In an eerie collection of short speculative fiction, author BJ Sheppard will grab your imagination, bringing new life to the classic campfire tales synonymous with the scariest of occasions. Halloween will never be the same again.

When Chris and Liam made that promise, they had no idea how important it would become or how it would be tested in the most brutal way. Nine years later, their bond cemented in blood, that relationship is all they have to hold on to.

“No matter what happens, this friendship will be the one constant we can count on.”

When Billy and Owen made that promise, they knew exactly how dangerous the world could be. They survived prison by protecting each other and they survived freedom by holding that promise sacred. Now they want more than just to survive and they want it from the brothers whose bond is as strong as their own.

“We are stronger together than we’ll ever be apart.”

When Owen reaches his breaking point, Chris jumps at the chance to make things right for all of them. With the future in their grasp, will they realize their strength is in their numbers and finally become the family they crave?

Author’s Note: This is NOT a foursome, but the story of two couples that needed to be told together.

Templeton Reed has been hiding his inner polecat since he was a child. Keeping his animal secreted is hard for a shifter, especially when one is living in a secret community of mystical beings. It`s the wolf shifters that cause Templeton the most trouble with their darned sensitive noses. Templeton has a run-in with the Lake Erie pack and their alpha, Mikel Lupei, at the Office for Transmogrification Registration (OTTER). Templeton has a desk job checking registration papers and dealing with wolf shifters is not part of his job description. After that upsetting meeting the meek and mild office worker suddenly finds himself in the center of not only civil unrest among the shifter community, but a violent plan for a coup aimed at rousting Mikel. Templeton and Mikel, a skilled tracker of rogue shifters, are soon not only fighting for their lives, they`re also fighting the rigidly archaic rules of their kind, as well as the person responsible for trying to take over Mikel`s pack from the inside. Can this magical odd couple turn a passionate attraction into a full-fledged love affair?

Pages or Words: 65 pages

Categories: M/M Romance, Paranormal

Excerpt:

As I walked, I rolled odd change around inside my coat pockets. The streets were busy as last minute shoppers ran to get their candy and costumes for the big night tomorrow. Head down and mind running a mile a minute, I never saw the brick wall disguised as a man I ran into. Face into the wind, I never smelled him either. The amber eyes and brindle hair were all that stopped me from either screaming or shifting. Mikel pulled me into a small bookstore. I went along because I really had no choice, but once inside the quaint bookery, I jerked my arm from his grasp. Several patrons glanced at us. Mikel muscled me into a row holding non-fiction and historical. He grabbed a book and opened it, his sharp gaze flitting between me and a fascinating how-to grow-your-own-beets book.“Is there a reason you abducted me from the street?” I asked, moving back slightly when his big body pressed closer to allow a woman to pass behind him. His proximity was beyond distressing. It was arousing. Now that he had me cornered, there was no getting away from the heady scent that he exuded: Part sin, part warm fur, part earthy pine, wholly distracting.“I`ve been trying to contact you for days. Why didn`t you return my calls?” he whispered, keeping his big chest plastered to my left arm. My spine was firmly against a bookshelf.“There are several reasons,” I replied trying to sound snooty but sounding meagerly twitterpated. "One is that our classes don`t mix. . .”“That`s a paltry reason, Templeton,” Mikel said gruffly, snapping his beet book closed.“Well, it may be for you, but when one`s boss tells one to keep his distance and – hey!” I grabbed for my glasses when he plucked them off the bridge of my nose. Folding my arms over my pea coat, I glowered at the oaf. There would be no leaping up and down. Those days ended when I left high school. The touch of his fingers on my chin brought out an age-old response. I jerked back hard. The bookcase behind me wobbled dangerously. Mikel dropped his book to steady the shelving unit. My heart was trying to explode through my chest like an alien baby. The lycan inhaled several times then gave me a dark look.“Calm yourself, Templeton, your odor is growing stronger.”“Sorry, it`s just this is all too – too much,” I gasped, working to calm myself before the tingling at the base of my spine began. The bells over the front door tinkled melodiously. Soft conversation bounced off the spines of books. Mikel tipped my head back and kissed me. Right there in the middle of the non-fiction. His lips were soft. Sinfully soft. It took my lashes a moment after his mouth left mine to flutter upward. Squinting skyward, I tried to read his face but it was a blur. My glasses were placed back onto my face, albeit crookedly, and then I could see the glow of golden eyes. Oh my . .

Meet the author:

V.L. Locey loves worn jeans, yoga, belly laughs, reading and writing lusty tales, Greek mythology, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee. (Not necessarily in that order.) She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, two dogs, two cats, a flock of assorted domestic fowl, and three Jersey steers.

When not writing spicy romances, she enjoys spending her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania with a cup of fresh java in hand. She can also be found online on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and GoodReads.

Lenny James is a thirty-five-year-old transvestite with his own fashion label and a desire for a man to accept both sides of him. Brook Hunter is about to show him there are no sides to true love, just the place where we meet in the middle.

TWO OF A KIND

Lenny James is a handsome, shaggy blond thirty-five-year-old with aqua eyes and broad shoulders. In his twenties he boxed and did martial arts. He’s a fashion designer, owns his own company and label…and he attends work in his female persona of Laverne.

It’s amazing what a little mascara and lipstick, a blond wig, false boobs, and of course top-notch female fashion can hide. Not that Lenny’s hiding his masculinity; he’s not particularly camp as a man. His reasons for creating his alter ego are locked deep in his past, in his father’s definition of masculinity. He is who he is: tough in business, and a romantic at heart. What he’s hiding is vulnerability. He wants a man to accept both sides of him. And gorgeous, commanding, dark as sin Brook Hunter is about to show him there are no sides to true love, just the place where we meet in the middle.

And without further adieu...........The Cover

RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Meet the Author

Susan Mac Nicol is a self confessed bookaholic, an avid watcher of videos of sexy pole dancing men, self confessed geek and nerd and in love with her Smartphone. This little treasure is called ‘the boyfriend’ by her long suffering husband, who says if it vibrated, there’d be no need for him. Susan hasn’t had the heart to tell him there’s an app for that… She is never happier than when sitting in the confines of her living room/study/on a cold station platform scribbling down words and making two men fall in love. She is a romantic at heart and believes that everything happens (for the most part) for a reason. She likes to think of herself as a ‘half full’ kinda gal, although sometimes that philosophy is sorely tested. Lover of walks in the forest, theatre productions, dabbling her toes in the cold North Sea and the vibrant city of London where you can experience all four seasons in a day , she is a hater of pantomime (so please don’t tar and feather her), duplicitous people, bigotry and self righteous idiots. In an ideal world, Susan Mac Nicol would be Queen of England and banish all the bad people to the Never Never Lands of Wherever -Who Cares. As that’s never going to happen, she contents herself with writing her HEA stories and pretending, that just for a little while, good things happen to good people.

Join the wild ride in this vibrant and fun first installment of the new romantic comedy serial by best-selling author Leta Blake and newcomer Alice Griffiths!

After a drunken night of hot sex in Vegas, strangers Will Patterson and Dr. Patrick McCloud wake up married. A quickie divorce is the most obvious way out—unless you’re the heir of a staunchly Catholic mafia boss with a draconian position on the sanctity of marriage.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Will and Patrick don't like it, or each other, but they have to make the best of it until they can find another way out of their marriage. To ensure the trust fund Will's charitable foundation relies on isn't revoked by his mobster grandfather, he and Patrick travel to Will’s hometown of Healing, South Dakota, posing as a newlywed couple in the throes of true love at first sight.

Complicating their scheme are Will’s unresolved feelings for his all-too-recent ex-boyfriend Ryan, and Patrick’s desire to get back to the only thing that really matters to him in life: neurosurgery. Will they fool everyone? Or will the mafia get wind that their marriage is a fake? Throw their simmering attraction into the mix and all bets are off!

Episode 1 of 6 in the Wake Up Married Serial.

Excerpt

Patrick sits down beside Will and rubs his hands together in anticipation. “So, what did Granny say? Can she free me from the shackles of our loveless union?”

Will puts his head in his hands. “It’s not going to be as easy as I hoped initially. It might take some time.”

“We knew that. How much time? A week? Two?”

“Maybe a month?”

“What?” Patrick’s voice is loud.

“Maybe more than a month? Possibly up to a year?”

Patrick’s eyes grow dark with anger. "Don’t tell me the all-powerful Eleanora Molinaro you were going on about so enthusiastically when you were convincing me of this half-baked scheme can’t make a little inadvertent marriage disappear.”

“Could you hold it down?” Will whispers. "Or do you want someone to hear?”

“Oooh, right, the Molinaro spies. Might have the place bugged. Guess I shouldn’t yell then? I’m not your toy, Will. I want a divorce and I want one now,” Patrick hollers.

Will glares at him. He raises his own voice, saying, “Don’t be so dramatic, baby!”

He stares Patrick down, daring him to say something else. "You know I love you more than life!”

Patrick looks daggers at him. "Who do you think you’re fooling, Will? The bellhops? The maids?” He wipes a hand across his face and rises. "You know, no. I can’t believe I’ve let your paranoia and insanity drag me across the country into this hornet’s nest of absurdity and—”

Patrick rants on, but Will’s not paying attention anymore, because Patrick’s tossing his new clothes onto the bed, and getting out his suitcases.

Patrick throws a shirt into the bag and sighs. "What do you want from me? I gave your plan a chance, but there is no way in hell I’m going to hang around this town for a year. Not when I could be at the Mayo Clinic or Cedars-Sinai or Vandy. Not when I can be honing my skills and expanding my practice. I am not small-town material, Will. I’m the big-time. I have absolutely no desire to play your loving spouse indefinitely and if

your grandmother can’t get us out of this mess? Well, I sure as hell can.”

“Look,” Will says. "I know you can. I just need you...no, no, stop that. You’re not going anywhere.” Will pushes Patrick, trying to move him away from the bags.

Patrick lurches toward him, gripping his forearms and shoving him back with surprising strength. "I’ve been pushed around enough in my life, Will. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I’m going to take care of this my way.”

Will breathes in hard. Terror and attraction jolts through him at once. He swallows and backs away from Patrick, his hands shaking, and his throat dry. Blood rushes in his ears.

Patrick picks up his bag and heads for the door. Will tries to block Patrick from getting it open.

“Really? It’s come to this? Holding me against my will?”

Will pushes the barely open door shut with a hard slam. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Patrick. This is just our first lover’s spat. That’s all. The first of many to come in our long, wonderfully happy marriage.”

Patrick stares at him like he’s kind of impressed by this level of insanity. “Good God, you’re drinking your own Kool-Aid.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a very, very expensive drink.”

“You think you’re so clever don’t you?”

Will shrugs. "I think I don’t know what else to do.”

Mari's Review*** ARC provided to Bayou Book Junkie in exchange for a fair and honest review. ***After his boyfriend called him to Las Vegas to break up with him, Will Patterson gets drunk and wakes up the next day and discovers he had sex with a stranger, a very handsome stranger but a stranger nonetheless, to whom he is now married. Getting a divorce is out of the question, or he will lose the trustfund his grandfather left him and that he uses to finance his foundation. Dr. Patrick McCloud is a famed neurosurgeon, but his people skills are not up to par with his surgical skill and due to that he finds himself without a job and with a new husband that convinces him to go with him to Healing, SD, while Will finds a way to get out of the mess that is their marriage. I adored Patrick! He's a fantastic character. Sure, he's brash and is lacking in the tact department, but he feels real. I am still not too sure how I feel about Will, while he's supposed to be the 'good' one, I'm not all that fond of him. He asks a lot of Patrick, without giving much in return, and is so set in getting back together with his ex, Ryan, who I liked even less. I'm willing to give Will the benefit of the doubt, though, since he has his moments and it's obvious Patrick is really interested in him, even if he wishes he wasn't. This was a fantastic start of the series! It definitely grabbed my attention and I'll be waiting eagerly for the next installment, which will be released around mid November. Very recommendable! Rating: 4.5 Stars!!!

Author Bios

Leta Blake

Author of the bestselling book Smoky Mountain Dreams and the fan favorite Training Season, Leta Blake's educational and professional background is in psychology and finance, respectively. However, her passion has always been for writing. She enjoys crafting romance stories and exploring the psyches of made up people. At home in the Southern U.S., Leta works hard at achieving balance between her day job, her writing, and her family.

A long-time reader of romance novels, Alice Griffiths finally took the plunge into writing, teaming up with best-selling author Leta Blake for the 'Woke up Married' serialized comedy. A lover of tropes, Alice enjoys mining old ideas and putting a fresh, funny spin on them. Formerly working in the newspaper industry, Alice is now an art curator. She lives in Sydney, Australia.